Vietnamese basketball at SEA Games 32 - Term 1: Historical achievement and incomplete joy

The closing ceremony that took place on the evening of May 17 at the Morodok Techo complex officially closed the 32nd SEA Games. The Vietnamese sports delegation had great success with the first place in the whole delegation, leading both in the number of medals and the number of medals. gold and total number of medals.

Basketball also has a historic achievement with the first gold medal in the SEA Games arena from the women's 3x3 content. However, in the remaining competition contents, Vietnamese basketball did not leave any special impression.

In fact, basketball does not have a goal of medals in the 32nd SEA Games. But the Vietnamese team in the 3x3 men's, 5x5 men's and 5x5 women's events did not have good rankings.

There are no words to describe what the 3x3 Vietnamese women's basketball team has done. The gold medal is the best achievement of Vietnamese basketball in many years participating in the SEA Games. Everything made more sense knowing that all 4 golden girls had problems before and during the tournament.

Captain Huynh Ngoan and Tieu Duy suffered injuries including knee overload, heel pain and hamstring strain. Meanwhile, twins Truong Thao My and Truong Thao Vy suffered the loss of a loved one exactly one week before the 32nd SEA Games began.

Both sisters considered quitting the competition to take care of the family, but ultimately suppressed their mental pain to fight. The image of all four players collapsing, especially Thao Vy's tears after scoring the gold medal, seemed to capture the love of the fans.

Also from this historic feat, the Vietnamese women's 3x3 basketball team has created an unprecedented attraction. All four players were enthusiastically welcomed by the media and fans. This also extends to the 5x5 women's team, where a quartet of players competes.

Taking place right after the 3x3 content, the 5x5 women's basketball team got a lot of attention from the fans. Unfortunately, the relatively heavy schedule and the round-robin format did not bring advantages for teachers and coaches Michael Olson.

The opening match was also the match that Vietnam Tel played the best, but a bit of bad luck caused the Vietnamese girls to lose to Indonesia with a 5 point difference (score 67-62). This is the match where pillar Truong Thao Vy suffered a head injury at a crucial moment.

The next outing saw Nguyen Thi Tieu Duy and Truong Thao My shine, bringing the Vietnamese women's basketball team to an emotional upstream victory over Thailand. This is the first time in the history of participating in the SEA Games, Vietnamese basketball defeated the Thai in the 5x5 content.

But then the feet were brought back to the ground by an unexpected defeat against Malaysia, the team was underestimated compared to Vietnam. The difference of this defeat is also very small, the score is 76-72. Both defeats to Vietnam have a difference of less than 5 points, the number is equal to exactly 2 attacks.

These two unfortunate defeats forced teachers and coaches Michael Olson to beat the Philippines to get a medal. That scenario did not happen when the Filipino girls threw the whole match, successfully making 18 3-pointers.

The Vietnamese women's basketball team completed the 5x5 content with the final fourth place, losing to exactly 3 teams that won 3 SEA Games medals.

Bitter for Vietnam Tel is that in the opening match, they could have defeated Indonesia if they were lucky, this team then won the gold medal with an undefeated record.

Fourth place is also the achievement of the Vietnamese women's basketball team in the 31st SEA Games, a stomping foot full of regret for the coaching staff and all players.

Compared to men, the Vietnamese women's basketball team has higher expectations thanks to the return of the Truong Twins. The excitement was even higher when the 3x3 team won the Asia Tour 2023, a pre-SEA Games friendly tournament with many professional clubs in the region.

In the end, it was the Vietnamese women's 3x3 team that made the miracle. They both successfully changed the color of their medals and successfully "revenge" Thailand in the final match at Thanh Tri Stadium in 2022. But that joy was not complete and was mixed with regret with the 4th place of the team. 5x5 content.

However, this result is only regrettable, not disappointing. Everyone knows that the team needs a real striker, a prominent factor (maybe from naturalized players or overseas Vietnamese) to compete with regional rivals.

The two narrow defeats that Vietnam had to receive against Indonesia and Malaysia both came because there was no one to compete with the opponent's striker. If Indonesia has a naturalized striker Kimberley Pierre-Louis (Canadian bloodline), Malaysia has Kalaimathi Rajintiran, a 1m85 tall athlete with Indian blood.

Points for improvement were clearly shown. Now fans will be waiting for a bold move from the Vietnam Basketball Federation. They hope in the decision to bring a naturalized striker or overseas Vietnamese back home, aiming to raise the level of the team in the next tournaments.

(Term 2: Difficulties in force and a wake-up call for men's basketball)